In India, Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalists win legislative elections

This is the first time since 1984 that a party has maintained its absolute majority from one election to another in India. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won a historic victory in the parliamentary elections, whose counting began on Thursday, May 23.

The alliance formed around Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata (BJP) is in the lead for 300 of the 542 seats in the lower house of parliament, according to official Electoral Commission figures released as as the counting.

In 2014, the BJP won 282 seats, ten more than the absolute majority.

According to the projections of the NDTV television channel, the NDA should finally win 348 seats.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the main opposition coalition formed around the Congress Party, is expected to win 85 seats, NDTV added.

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The final official results are still expected, the counting of more than 600 million ballots, expressed in seven phases spread over nearly six weeks, not being completed.

Donald Trump congratulated Narendra Modi and the BJP on their "big victory" in the legislative elections.

"Great things are waiting for the Indo-American partnership with the return of Prime Minister Modi at the helm, and I look forward to continuing our joint work," the US president tweeted.

Congratulations to Prime Minister @NarendraModi and his BJP party on their BIG election victory! Great things are in store for the US-India partnership with the PM Modi at the helm. I look forward to continuing our important work together!

"Together we will build a strong and open India," Narendra Modi promised on Twitter. "India wins again!"

The victory of Narendra Modi stimulates the financial markets, investors do not doubt that his government will continue the economic reforms.

However, the government will be under pressure to revive declining farm incomes and provide jobs to tens of millions of young people who will enter the labor market in the coming years.

"Massive victory"

"This is a tremendous mandate given to the positive policies of Narendra Modi, a tremendous victory for India," enthused GVL Narasimha Rao, a BJP spokesperson.

"We lost the battle," said Amarinder Singh, one of the leaders of the Congress Party.

The disappointment is all the more severe for Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi, who was beaten in the Amethi district, which was formerly that of his father Rajiv, murdered in 1989, and his mother Sonia. He may, however, sit in Parliament, since he was also a candidate in a constituency in southern India and was elected.

Rahul Gandhi admitted his defeat

Narendra Modi has been criticized during the election campaign for the low number of jobs created for young people and for the low level of prices of agricultural commodities.

But faced with a possible progression of the UPA, formation of the opposition organized around the Indian National Congress, Modi managed to rally Hindu nationalists and moved the stakes of the poll on the ground of the national security because of the increasing tensions with Pakistan following the car bomb attack that killed 40 members of Indian security forces in Kashmir in February.

Ballistic missile in Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sent a congratulatory message to his Indian counterpart, saying he would like to "work with him for peace, progress and prosperity".

Pakistan had announced a few hours earlier a ground-to-ground ballistic missile test with a range of 1,500 km.

The BJP has benefited from the superiority of its financial resources devoted to the campaign. He spent six times more than the Congress Party in political ads on Facebook and Google.

Opponents of Modi blame him for fueling fears within the Hindu community and promoting the position of Hindus in Indian society.

His followers explain that Narendra Modi has only restored to Hinduism his rightful place in the heart of Indian society.

With Reuters and AFP